After two weeks of sometimes violent demonstrations, Indonesia’s chief security minister on Friday encouraged calm in the easternmost region of Papua, stating the requirements of protesters for an inquiry into racism had been met.
At a joint news conference with several Papuan figures in the capital, Jakarta, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto gave the comments.
“Why must we kill each other because we’re offended?” Wiranto said. “Let’s return to calm, return to peace, think about the future where there is no destruction and there is development.”
The government has constantly called for calm in Papua, racked in years of perceived racial and ethnic discrimination by the most severe civil unrest. Some demonstrators are also calling for an independence referendum, which was ruled out by Wiranto.
On Friday night in the provincial capital of Jayapura, where demonstrators set fire to houses and vehicles a day ago, national police spokesperson Dedi Prasetyo said, another 1,250 police officers will fan out.
In relation to 1,200 policemen who flew last week to strengthen a region that already has a strong military presence owing to decades of separatist dispute, that figure is.
In the distant city of Deiyai, 500 km (310 miles) from Jayapura, shooting broke out on Wednesday.
During the incident, police said one soldier and two civilians were murdered, while six individuals were shot dead by a separatist group. That was rejected as a hoax by the army.
Since last week, an internet ban in the whole Papua region has rendered it hard to verify data.
Wiranto, a retired general, said that a “certain party” used the scenario to cause chaos and reap the benefit. He did not elaborate.
The situation in Papua and West Papua regions was calm, though there were plans for more demonstrations, he said, based on reports as of Friday morning.
The trigger for the recent protests was a racist slur against Papuan students who were struck in their dormitory by tear gas and arrested on Aug. 17, Indonesia’s Independence Day, in the town of Surabaya on Java’s primary island for supposedly desecrating a national flag.
Two army staff engaged in the Surabaya incident were undergoing legal process, and police had recognized two individuals suspected of hate speech, who were in a crowd, Wiranto said, mobbing the dormitory.
Speaking alongside the minister, Papuan community leader Samuel Tabuni also encouraged calm, but appealed to the government to treat Papuans fairer.
“Why was law enforcement not been conducted properly? Especially in Surabaya, the legal process started after we demonstrated, but racism has happened for a long time, fueling Papuans anger,” Tabuni said.
The provinces of Papua and West Papua, the resource-rich western portion of New Guinea’s island, were a Dutch colony integrated into Indonesia after a commonly criticized 1969 U.N .- backed referendum.